Paul Grubbs 6-19
Inheritance Revisited Post-Mansfield Park
Last post I raised some ideas regarding improvement by experimenting with the potential phoenix figures in several of the works we've read so far, suggesting that female authors propose that only through creative high-risk acts that jeopardize their safety can female protagonists disrupt the paradigms of patriarchy, class, and other oppressive barriers. Because I hope to expand that idea in my final paper, I'd like to continue that line of thought for this new posting regarding inheritance. I also like the idea of examining the purpose and nature of reading and writing, which may also intersect with the inheritance scenarios in each text.
Mansfield Park - When Fanny refuses Henry, she risks self-destruction by positioning herself against Sit Thomas, Mary Crawford, Edmund, and the entire class-based social system in which she was raised. What does this have to do with inheritance? Following her moral compass, which in this case required not gentle reticence but outspoken action, forces Fanny to re-evaluate the terms of her inheritance. Has she inherited the worldview of her aunt and (sometimes) uncle, who evaluate a marriage based upon acquired social advantage - does she accept that value system? When she is sent to Portsmouth she has to confront an equally problematic snarl of potential "treasures" presented by her biological parents - does she accept that value system? Fanny rejects both, instead claiming an ability to exceed her roots, exceed her influences, exceed her station through dignity rather than material resources. By drawing her sister into her orbit at Portsmouth and then taking her to Mansfield Park, Fanny also sets a new paradigm for the terms of honorable inheritance. Her thirst for knowledge, her attention to and interest in the needs of others, her bendable but not breakable reserve - these are the currencies that Fanny recognizes are most valuable to retain and pass on through the crucible of her confrontations over Henry. Fanny risks self-destruction, but emerges certain of what most matters for herself and for her sister. (Is her sister and end-run on the genetic limits of motherhood - does Fanny claim the right through her sister to influence the future regardless of Edmund?) Can Fanny be read as a microcosm of the woman of her age, who has to be willing to reject the various limited cookie cutters presented for females and be willing to suffer to publicly state that faith in femininity? (Is that giving Austen too much credit as a revolutionary? Is that putting the impetus unfairly on the oppressed instead of the oppressor? But then again, Sir Thomas's "evolution," if we're comfortable with that arc, would not materialize without Fanny's self-assured stand against his tyranny. I have to think more about whether Fanny's program of learning at Mansfield is self-education or not - Edmund provides the books, but they were equally available to Maria and Jane. It is Fanny's intellectual ambition that fuels her far more diligent stewardship of these options.
Inheritance Revisited Post-Mansfield Park
Last post I raised some ideas regarding improvement by experimenting with the potential phoenix figures in several of the works we've read so far, suggesting that female authors propose that only through creative high-risk acts that jeopardize their safety can female protagonists disrupt the paradigms of patriarchy, class, and other oppressive barriers. Because I hope to expand that idea in my final paper, I'd like to continue that line of thought for this new posting regarding inheritance. I also like the idea of examining the purpose and nature of reading and writing, which may also intersect with the inheritance scenarios in each text.
Mansfield Park - When Fanny refuses Henry, she risks self-destruction by positioning herself against Sit Thomas, Mary Crawford, Edmund, and the entire class-based social system in which she was raised. What does this have to do with inheritance? Following her moral compass, which in this case required not gentle reticence but outspoken action, forces Fanny to re-evaluate the terms of her inheritance. Has she inherited the worldview of her aunt and (sometimes) uncle, who evaluate a marriage based upon acquired social advantage - does she accept that value system? When she is sent to Portsmouth she has to confront an equally problematic snarl of potential "treasures" presented by her biological parents - does she accept that value system? Fanny rejects both, instead claiming an ability to exceed her roots, exceed her influences, exceed her station through dignity rather than material resources. By drawing her sister into her orbit at Portsmouth and then taking her to Mansfield Park, Fanny also sets a new paradigm for the terms of honorable inheritance. Her thirst for knowledge, her attention to and interest in the needs of others, her bendable but not breakable reserve - these are the currencies that Fanny recognizes are most valuable to retain and pass on through the crucible of her confrontations over Henry. Fanny risks self-destruction, but emerges certain of what most matters for herself and for her sister. (Is her sister and end-run on the genetic limits of motherhood - does Fanny claim the right through her sister to influence the future regardless of Edmund?) Can Fanny be read as a microcosm of the woman of her age, who has to be willing to reject the various limited cookie cutters presented for females and be willing to suffer to publicly state that faith in femininity? (Is that giving Austen too much credit as a revolutionary? Is that putting the impetus unfairly on the oppressed instead of the oppressor? But then again, Sir Thomas's "evolution," if we're comfortable with that arc, would not materialize without Fanny's self-assured stand against his tyranny. I have to think more about whether Fanny's program of learning at Mansfield is self-education or not - Edmund provides the books, but they were equally available to Maria and Jane. It is Fanny's intellectual ambition that fuels her far more diligent stewardship of these options.